While eBooks remain the rage with many ferry commuters, this month’s column deals with three special downtown San Francisco resources for the readers and collectors of fine regional codices.
Available at the Argonaut: ABDY, Rowena Meeks. “San Francisco’s Wall Street.” Period print of one of the artist’s charcoal drawings. 7x5¼ inches plus borders. Signed within the plate. Framed and glazed. A fine copy. (San Francisco: by the artist, 1921). Print of one of the artist’s charcoal drawings. Titled by the artist at lower left margin.
By Paul Duclos
Published: January, 2012
While eBooks remain the rage with many ferry commuters, this month’s column deals with three special downtown San Francisco resources for the readers and collectors of fine regional codices.
Over the years many people entering the Argonaut Book Store have asked about the word Argonaut. Most people relate the word to Greek mythology and the band of heroes sailing with Jason in quest of the Golden Fleece. But the bookstore prefers the basic definition: An Argonaut is an adventurer engaged in a quest, usually by sea.
The word comes from the Latin and Greek argonautes. This word is broken down into Argo (the ship in which Jason’s Argonauts sailed) and nautes (a sailor). (Also consider the words astronaut and aeronaut, whose etymologies should now be obvious.)
And there’s a Californian connection—the Argonaut Book Shop specializes in the history of California and the western United States. During the California gold rush, pioneer adventurers sailing around South America to California questing for gold were called Argonauts. The name was also given to pioneers traveling overland in their "prairie schooners" to the California gold fields. Prairie schooner referred to the covered wagons used to cross the plains, because from a distance they looked rather like ships at sea. To learn more, visit www.argonautbookshop.com.
The Book Club of California has been publishing significant books on California and the western United States during its nearly 100-year history. It has also hosted numerous book-related exhibitions, lectures and demonstrations. Founded in 1912 by a group of San Francisco bibliophiles, the club from its very beginning distinguished itself not only for its handsome productions, but for its members as well—unusual for the time, the club was founded by both men and women and included female members from the very beginning. Among those founding members were Phoebe Apperson Hearst, legendary San Francisco philanthropist and mother of William Randolph Hearst, and Florence Lundborg, San Francisco artist and book designer.
Over the years, many people prominent in the arts and letters have been club members, including Ansel Adams, Faith Baldwin, Merle Armitage, Oscar Lewis, Lawrence Clark Powell, Witter Bynner, Alfred A. Knopf, Franklin D. Murphy, Carl I. Wheat, Francis P. Farquhar, A. Edward Newton, Ward Ritchie, Norton Simon, John Henry Nash, Kevin Starr and numerous others. From an initial membership of 58, the club has grown to include over 1,000 members. www.bccbooks.org.
William Stout Architectural Books carries over 20,000 titles on two floors in the fields of architecture, art, urban planning, graphic and industrial design, furniture and interior design and landscape architecture. For over 30 years—20 in its current location—it has been a vital resource for architecture and design books, carrying American and international titles, both in and out of print.
The origins of the store date back to when Bill Stout was a practicing architect and would travel to Europe, bringing back hard-to-find European architectural books. His colleagues and friends would ask him to bring back additional copies, and thus the shop was born. About 10 years ago, he started William Stout Publishers, which puts out a few books a year, mainly on architecture and landscape in the Bay Area, but also including books on architectural theory, and reprints of important, out of print titles. www.stoutbooks.com
